Oscar=Cupid?
Adrien Brody got Nicole Kidman's phone number
after they were photographed together with their
awards.

Saturday, March 29, 2003 7:48am
- Partly Cloudy - 32f

Through the kind help of folks
making this sweater,
I've put together a list of FIXems!

Handy Dandy SitCom Chic FAQ

1. The Needles: I knit the garment using circular
needles for both the sleeves and body. On the sleeves,
I used the 2
Circular Method, and 2-24" #5s, then 2-24" #8s
(US sizing).

I'm a total klutz with Double Points, but have mastered
the other method.

BUT, since so many folks found this info as written
confusing, I've changed it. Those using the 2-Circular
Method will know what they need if they want to use
that method. :)

2. The Sleeves: There was a typo in the original,
(which has been fixed on the site).

The info for increasing for the sleeves didn't make
sense either and I've re-written it.

Why Increase beyond the Needle Joins? It's easy to
get loose stiches around the place where you change
needles when knitting in the round, so I always do
my increase a few stitches into the group of stitches
on the needle that holds the increase area.

Also, the cast-off stitches should be centered over
the increase area.

3. Front Edge Rolling: Like any sweater, even
those made from cotton/poly blends need to be blocked.
Work on the Wrong Side ONLY.

I lighty steamed the whole thing with my garment steamer
held a good distance away. You can use the Cotton
Blend setting on your Iron.

The Front Band can be more heavily steamed to what
is referred to unfortunately as *killing* the acrylic
in the yarn. This sets it forever but must be done
carefully so you don't get into the body portion of
the sweater.

I also washed my sweater before wearing to test the
yarn. I do not dry most of my sweaters in the dryer,
and dried this one flat. I patted and smoothed the
whole thing down, especially the front bands.

So far, I've had no problem with rolling. Your mileage
may vary, but if it does, don't despair!

If you want a completely washable/dryable garment,
try using a matching grosgrain ribbon stitched right
up to the edges of the fronts. It looks beautiful
and will definately tame the ROLL - tres haute couture!

Claudia, over at Claudia's
Knitting/Spinning Blog has been kind enough to
help me de-bug the SitCom and has made a FANTASTIC
sweater as you can see! Thanks so much for your input
Claudia - and if any one else out there has any suggestions
to make this more clear, let me know HERE.

She also hipped me to the fact that the pattern did
not specify the needle size for picking up the edge
stitches (use the smaller needle) and that you want
to have a non-rippling front edge so you might have
to fudge with the picked-up number of stitches. This
is always true with cardigans so use the provided
number as a starting point and adjust as necessary
to your gauge.

Also, I changed the pattern to reflect the actual
measurement you need to knit up to certain pattern
changes instead of rows.

5. The Pattern: Click HERE
for a printable, corrected version of the SitCom Chic
Pattern

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Thanks to everyone who's making this sweater - I'm
on my second and want to make a third as well. If
you feel like it, drop a line to Lion
Brand Yarn telling them how much you like this
yarn and want it in more subtle *Fashionable* colors!

Looks like she was busy clutching just the coolest
purse in the Universe! I just got a booklet from eBay
with the most amazing purses I've ever seen!

Those Old School stitchers were especially Haute Chic
with their accessories and shoes! OOh la la...

I'd like to hereby declare a new online controversy
- the homogenization of the world by the GAP! It's
what the handbag backlash is all about! Women seem
to be sick of being cookie cutter khaki clones. Accessories
are fun and frisky again - sexy shoes have never left
the building.

One of my co-workers was almost fired for surfing
on the clock. Were there XXX sites all over the network?
Au contraire, Pierre, she was just trying to buy Fendi
on eBay...

It only took two years for me to discover
the wonderful durability of the yarn in the 2 Sisyphus
sweaters. I bought it all in 2001, knit one whole
project and a partial project then frogged, washed
and re-knitted them both. Both sweaters turned out
great and have been really dependable on the street.

My whole idea was to make some hard wearing *neutral*
garments and upgrade my working look after the day
a reporter asked me if I always had to dress like
I was "going to Vietnam?" What the...

But, my *after school look* WAS much more chic and
feminine. The only thing holding me back was that
most of my handknit sweaters were too delicate for
the daily wear and tear of ENG.

So I decided to roll the dice on some black, dark
brown (Bark) and Charcoal Bartlett Fisherman Yarn.
Since I've been so happy with the Bark & Charcoal
cardies, I've been working on a black Ribby Cardie
on the #66 Bus ride commute and it's just zoomin'
along. I got some nice big black snaps for the front
and am on the second sleeve already. If I get a lunch
hour or am stuck somewhere, I've been working on the
body.

And away we go...

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lucky me. Today I go into work at
3:30am. We call this the Vampire Shift. Not only
do you get to drive in (I double dog dare you to
take the #66 at this time in the morning when it's
fondly referred to as the Vomit Comet...) with all
the bar closers, but you get to meet Chicago's finest
nightside citizenry roaming about. There'a a flip
side to every coin and this one certainly would
be called Tails.

Once I had this shift for two years, with Mondays
and Tuesdays off. I came out to my car and a TV
hooker was *working* a suit on THE HOOD OF MY DATSUN.
I shouted, "HEY! What the..." And He/She said, "HEY!
Give us a minute here..."

Although this is a color that defies photography,
I've sort of captured the back of my Magenta Bulb
Cardigan. It is 8 inches of a very cool slip-stitch
pattern that just could morph into a whole cardigan
at a later date. Looks like ribbing but it's not;
it lies flat and is broken up every 5 repeats by a
3-stitch column. For a wonderful look at how you can
use this effect for stunning relief texture, check
out the designs Here.
Scroll down to Jaeger Handknits JB11 Albany Brochure,
where you'll see Amanda Griffiths' modern and amazing
work like the design called "Otto". (Memo: who is
AG - must look around for this info.)

NOW back to my back: here comes the fun part - the
bulby bird-cage looking twisted stitch cables that
form an entire textured pattern to the shoulders.
This was very intimidating when I first started it,
but since I finished the sleeve, I've realized that
if you can keep your row count correct on the graph,
it's a piece of cake.

This feels like a design binge coming on. I look at
the galleries over the winter and see the Theme was
Ruffles! Maybe now I'm easing into Aran World by Twist/Cross
stitch patterns. They don't need a needle and go pretty
fast.

It's a little quirky but I get mentally stuck like
that; ie. I only do lace that permits purling back
on the wrong side or just working the stitches as
they appear. No pattern work to speak of for every
other row.

It's amazing how many lace patterns there are out
there that you can do this on! WHICH is one of the
reasons that I'm never bored knitting because you
will NEVER RUN OUT of new combinations of things to
create.

Stand-by Unit 10: High Maintenance
HiJinksPOV of a Chicago Photojournalist

One of the most universally enduring fiction genres
are tales of High-Brow Criminal Duets. Holmes
& Moriarity. Clark and Lex. Hannibal & Clarice...

Clarice Starling is especially interesting to me because
she prevails, at least for a little while, amongst
the food chain of the male dominated bureaucracy of
the FBI. Her nemesis, Hannibal Lector, declares that
his cannibalism is thoroughly justified because he
only tries to clear the anthropological landscape
of the "free-range rude..."

My job daily puts me in the jetstream of rapidly-moving
high-rollers. The rollers, be they co-workers or from
the public sector, tend to roll all over *everybody*
in their path. Those holding the cameras are especially
at risk because they equate us with perhaps the valet
that parks their luxury vehicle - or maybe the butler
that lays out their especially coordinated monotone
ensembles. Understanding that we are not papparazzi,
but essential sprockets in their PR machine makes
no difference.

Early Monday morning, under the cover of 2am darkness,
Roller/Mayor Richard M. Daley, with police escort,
authorized the demolition of Miegs AirField. This
small plane small field landing area is right off
of the Chicago downtown, bordered on the East by the
Lake. It is mainly used by corporate jets and small
twin engine props or choppers. The Mayor used asphalt
eaters to plow up huge X's in the runways so they
were no longer usable. It looked like something out
of M Night Shyamalan's "Signs" - a coded invitation
for some alien visitors to land on our kind of town...

BUT what really landed?

The HUE! The CRY! THIS IS the Windy City! Although
this is Park District property and under his jurisdiction,
this covert plowing was unprecedented and just plain
slimy. Monday was also Election Day here and the Mayor
ran un-opposed to victory. No One however was yelling,
Long Live the King!

Instead, 20 stranded cardiologist/pilots attending
a convention here and an odd group called Friends
of Miegs Field took up the challenge and threw down
on his Honor.

They likened him to Hussein, Chicago to Not-Iraq,
Miegs Field to the Statue of Liberty. They swore at
us for not educating the public to the value of keeping
the Glitterati happy and close to their fabulous hotels
and restaurants when they are in town. I almost got
my wrist broken when the CamPack whiplashed itself
onto a car to get one last sound-bite from a bloated
MD who bragged about the dinner he was going to eat
at the taxpayer's expense that evening. I was the
only one front and central to the car window as it
started to roll down and the whole group moved en
masse and tackled me right out of the way.